(no subject)
Filled with hope from various online reports of the DS Lite's street date being broken, I decided to see if I could track one down around here. As most of you know, I work in a WalMart in southern New Hampshire. We didn't have any out on the floor, so on a lark I decided to ask our electronics manager if we had gotten any in and they either weren't allowed to sell them or they just hadn't had a chance to put them out on the floor. I wasn't expecting anything, because being in New Hampshire usually means we don't get anything until either on the release date or a few days after. I ended up going back to our security room with her to check, because they had not yet unpacked the freight for the day. At the very top was a box with a single DS Lite unit in it. There was a sticker closing up the box that said not to sell until the release date, but there was no date on the box. She handed it to me and told me she would be able to sell it to me, citing the lack of date. I started to leave, but turned back around after she called out "wait, there's something down here". On the very bottom of the pile, there was a box full of DS Lites, with the June 11th date printed on the box.
"Whoops, I guess I can't sell you this after all," she cheerfully exclaimed as she snatched it back out of my hands.
I called the local Target on my break to see if I could just swing over there after my shift to get one.
"Yeah sure, we're selling them now. I can put one aside for you if you'd like. Let me just make sure we still have some left."
...
"...uhhh. Yeah, I'm sorry. We're not selling the DS Lites until the 11th. You can pick one up then."
WHYYYYYYYYYYY.
I finished yesterday at work kind of pissed, realizing I would probably just have to wait until the release date. This morning I checked my sources to see if there were any other stores breaking the date. Lo and behold, Sears of all places was supposed to be selling them if you ordered them off of sears.com and used the instore pickup. I did the little song and dance and ordered it offline. I paid the $130, which was immediately taken off my card because I was picking it up at the store. It says to wait up to two hours to get a confirmation e-mail in saying that they DEFINITELY have the unit and that you can DEFINITELY pick it up. I get the e-mail in 5 minutes. I shower, and zip on over there with all the various online receipts I had printed out. I walk into their little delivery center, and scan my barcode. A guy comes out of the back, asking if I was picking up one of the DS Lites. I confirmed this, and he went out back. A few minutes later, a manager comes out.
"I'm sorry sir, all of our DS Lites have been recalled, we have to send them back to our main headquarters."
AGGGGGGGGGGGH.
I tried unsuccessfully for about 15 minutes to try and convince him that, because, I had already paid for the fucking thing, I should be able to take it out of the store and assume responsibility if it blew up in my face or anything (he didn't know the actul reason for the recall). I didn't yell at him or scream or anything (I work in customer service myself, I know how not to be a shitty customer). It was actually a really nice conversation. At the end, I told him I respected his integrity, shook his hand, and left. As a last ditch resort, I got a number from their service desk to call and had another pleasant conversation with a guy who told me I might be able to order one directly from the website and have it shipped before they recalled those too. I got home about 15 minutes ago to find they had removed the DS Lites from the website. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
I usually don't care about release dates like this, but after getting jerked around by three different retailers like this, I'm kind of annoyed. If any of you live in an area where they're still selling them, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TELL ME. I will Paypal you the money for the system and for shipping! PLEASE GOD. I am a broken man. -_-
"Whoops, I guess I can't sell you this after all," she cheerfully exclaimed as she snatched it back out of my hands.
I called the local Target on my break to see if I could just swing over there after my shift to get one.
"Yeah sure, we're selling them now. I can put one aside for you if you'd like. Let me just make sure we still have some left."
...
"...uhhh. Yeah, I'm sorry. We're not selling the DS Lites until the 11th. You can pick one up then."
WHYYYYYYYYYYY.
I finished yesterday at work kind of pissed, realizing I would probably just have to wait until the release date. This morning I checked my sources to see if there were any other stores breaking the date. Lo and behold, Sears of all places was supposed to be selling them if you ordered them off of sears.com and used the instore pickup. I did the little song and dance and ordered it offline. I paid the $130, which was immediately taken off my card because I was picking it up at the store. It says to wait up to two hours to get a confirmation e-mail in saying that they DEFINITELY have the unit and that you can DEFINITELY pick it up. I get the e-mail in 5 minutes. I shower, and zip on over there with all the various online receipts I had printed out. I walk into their little delivery center, and scan my barcode. A guy comes out of the back, asking if I was picking up one of the DS Lites. I confirmed this, and he went out back. A few minutes later, a manager comes out.
"I'm sorry sir, all of our DS Lites have been recalled, we have to send them back to our main headquarters."
AGGGGGGGGGGGH.
I tried unsuccessfully for about 15 minutes to try and convince him that, because, I had already paid for the fucking thing, I should be able to take it out of the store and assume responsibility if it blew up in my face or anything (he didn't know the actul reason for the recall). I didn't yell at him or scream or anything (I work in customer service myself, I know how not to be a shitty customer). It was actually a really nice conversation. At the end, I told him I respected his integrity, shook his hand, and left. As a last ditch resort, I got a number from their service desk to call and had another pleasant conversation with a guy who told me I might be able to order one directly from the website and have it shipped before they recalled those too. I got home about 15 minutes ago to find they had removed the DS Lites from the website. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
I usually don't care about release dates like this, but after getting jerked around by three different retailers like this, I'm kind of annoyed. If any of you live in an area where they're still selling them, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TELL ME. I will Paypal you the money for the system and for shipping! PLEASE GOD. I am a broken man. -_-